Dear NANFA Member,
We would like to invite you to attend this year's NANFA Convention in
Columbia, SC on June 17-20, 2004. Our annual convention is a great place to
meet
other NANFA members, hear some neat presentations about fishes and the aquatic
environment in general, and spend a day or two visiting some of the local
areas and collecting fishes you may never have seen before. South Carolina
has a
diverse range of habitats, from mountains to piedmont to coastal plains, so we
have a lot of options! You will need a South
Carolina recreational fishing license to collect nongame fishes in South
Carolina. Anyone who wants to should be able to find some interesting new
fishes.
The weather in early June should be warm but not oppressive, and many of the
fish may still be in breeding coloration. For those of you wishing to bring
your families, there are many historical sites and attractions for them to
visit around the state.
Riverbanks Zoological Park & Gardens has been kind enough to allow us to
have our auction, speakers and banquet in their facilities. Dustin Smith,
Fritz
Rohde and Chip Rinehart will be acting as your hosts. The format for the
meeting will be a full day on Friday of collecting trips around South
Carolina,
with the possibility of brief forays into North Carolina. Friday night we
will
have our annual auction as well as guided tours of the aquariums at
Riverbanks Zoo. On Saturday we will have presentations of interest to NANFA
members by
some well-know and highly regarded speakers, followed by the banquet that
night, also at Riverbanks. Sunday, for those interested, we will do some more
collecting. This year's convention t-shirt will again be an original design
by
Casper Cox; make sure to get your order in early.
On Saturday, our meeting will begin at 8:30am with a lunch break at 12:30pm
then resuming again at 2:00pm and continuing until approximately 5:00pm. A
brief list of our speakers and their topics below:
Patrick McMillan - Aquatic Plants
Gerald Pottern - Shiners of the subgenus Hydrophlox
Fritz Rohde - Pygmy Sunfishes
Brian Wagner - Crayfishes
Dave Neely - Sculpins
Ray Wolff - Aquarium and Pond Maintenance
at least one more TBA
We are honored to have, as our special guest speaker at the banquet, Dr.
Robert Goldstein, who will be speaking on collecting in South America.
Here are the details of how to get to and where to stay in Columbia:
CONVENTION LODGING: Holiday Inn - Columbia Airport The rooms will be
non-smoking doubles, and some smoking rooms will be available at your
request. The
rate will be $65.00 per night and will include a complimentary hot breakfast
buffet in Magnolia's Grill which is the on-site restaurant. For more info on
the
motel go to www.holiday-inn.com/cae-airport <
http://www.holiday-inn.com/cae-airport > or to make reservations call (803)
794-9440. *NOTE: Make sure to
mention that you are with the 'NANFA' group and tell them to use tracking
number
"2-NAN". The deadline for making reservations is May 25, 2004. This Holiday
Inn is located on Chris Drive, just off of US #1at I-26 (Exit 111b) and is a
short 10 minute drive to Riverbanks Zoo via I-26/I-126. For any of you that
may be flying in, it is also very close (approx. 10 minutes) to the Columbia
Metropolitan Airport and has free
shuttle service to and from the airport.
AIR TRAVEL: Columbia Metropolitan Airport is served by several major air
carriers with direct connections to many North American cities. The airport is
about 10 miles west of the meeting site, connected by US #1/I-26/I-126.
TRAVEL BY CAR: Columbia is located in the center of the state easily
accessible via interstates I-20, I-26, and I-77.
CONVENTION REGISTRATION: The registration fee for the convention is $65 if
paid by May 16, $75 at the door. A spousal registration fee of $20 will cover
attendance at the Saturday evening banquet and admission to other convention
events. Also, this year we will have a special student registration rate of
$25
($30 at the door) for middle school, high school and college students. Early
registrations should be made out to NANFA and
sent to: Dustin Smith, 1229 Walnut Street, Newberry, SC 29108 .
We hope you can make it to Columbia this June. If you have any questions,
please contact us at:
Dustin - home phone 803-405-1847 or email Dsmith73_at_hotmail.com
Fritz - e-mail at Fritz.Rohde_at_ncmail.net
Chip - home phone 803-808-3502 or email Ipchay61_at_aol.com .
Dustin Smith, Fritz Rohde, Chip Rinehart
Convention hosts
(NANFA members will receive a snail mail version of the above letter in the
near future.)
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